"Poisoning" the environment?

Trade forests for… roads

Talking to reporters, Mr. Ly Van T., in Don Phong commune, Bach Thong district, said: The area from Vang Bo to Bang Phuc commune of Cho Don district, Bac Kan province, was originally a natural forest and partly a production forest, but since the construction started, wherever the road was opened, saws, excavators dug the ground, and destroyed the forest, making people feel sad. But what can we do? We are happy because from now on there is a new road to travel, and sad because too much forest has been cut down.

The contractor cleared mountains and forests to make roads, causing rocks and soil to flood the Nam Cat River.

Mr. T. then took the reporter to the field, the road to the route became more and more difficult to travel. The reporter saw a large dumping site lying precariously next to a stream, with a high risk of landslides. Many people in Chieng village, Don Phong commune said: This dumping site was originally the rice fields of some households in Vang Bo village. It is unclear what agreement they had with each other and agreed to dump the waste soil from the route opening here. Up to now, this dumping site has swelled up like a hill. This season is the dry season, with little rain, so nothing has been seen yet. But next month, in the rainy season, the risk of soil overflowing into the stream is inevitable, at that time, the only fear is that it will fill up the stream.

Reporter of Natural Resources and Environment Newspaper at the scene of the billion-dollar road, next to it is a rare ancient tree that was cut down. The trunk has been taken away, the root is also dug up, left here, waiting for the road to be cleared and then taken away.

It is known that the project is divided into many packages, however, the construction units arbitrarily dumped soil and rocks next to Nam Cat stream, which poses a high risk of environmental pollution and changing the flow. A worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said: The section adjacent to Hua Lo bridge is under construction by Construction and Trade Joint Stock Company 299, followed by the section under construction by Company 568... Because the route is being opened, it is true that soil and rocks have fallen.

The reporter contacted Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Director of the Bac Kan Province Traffic Construction Investment Project Management Board, who said he was absent and assigned the office to respond. After that, the reporter was provided with some information by a person named Loan: To implement the project, 70.9 hectares of forest land had to be converted (including 31.33 hectares of natural forest land and 39.66 hectares of planted forest land). There were 2 locations reclaimed by the Management Board as dumping sites, but Ms. Loan did not specify which commune or village these 2 dumping sites were located in... Then she said she was busy and did not give a specific answer.

The commune is worried, but the project is the province's.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Ly Tien Vinh, Head of Vang Bo village, said: When this road was built, the people did not see anyone inviting them to a meeting to assess the impacts on people's lives. The dumping site where the soil was piled up belongs to Mr. Ly Tien Thi's family. Previously, this land was rice fields. To have a dumping site, the contractors compensated Mr. Ly Tien Thi's family for two years of farming. According to Mr. Vinh, he has never seen any documents or decisions from higher authorities allowing dumping soil here, they agreed with each other, the head of Vang Bo village added.

Vang Bo Bridge, a contract package constructed by Thanh Quy Bac Kan Company Limited. Nam Cat River is buried with soil, there is only a small culvert to clear the flow, if a big flood comes, the consequences will be unpredictable.

Mr. Trieu Phuc Ty, Chairman of the People's Committee of Don Phong Commune, said: When the project was carried out in the commune, the contractor was always seen building the road along the Nam Cat River, and also saw a lot of waste rock and soil dumped along the bridgeheads and streams. The commune was very worried and gave opinions to the Project Management Board. But they said they were temporarily borrowing the stream bank to make a service road. Therefore, when the excavator was above, the rock and soil were all dumped into the stream. The most worrying thing was the construction section of the Vang Bo Bridge, the contractors also dumped soil to make a support and used construction beams. The rainy season is coming soon, the commune is also very worried that if there is heavy rain and floods, the consequences are unknown!

A road section constructed by companies 299 and 568 is "destroying" natural forests and dumping waste into Nam Cat stream.

It is thought that the People's Committee of Bac Kan province and specialized units need to investigate and propose solutions to handle the above problems, because the rainy season will soon come, at which time the consequences of landslides and environmental pollution arising from the Project will be very unpredictable.

Natural Resources and Environment Newspaper will continue to reflect the problems here.

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